Philippines drop Merdeka Cup opener to Malaysia

Jefferson Tabinas’ first half strike wasn’t enough to give the Philippines the win against Malaysia

Close, but no cigar.

The Philippine Senior Men's National Football Team fell short in their Merdeka Cup opener on Wednesday night, bowing to hosts Malaysia, 2-1, at the Bukit Jalil National Stadium inside the KL Sports City complex.

Even with only one training session involving the whole squad beforehand, the visitors pushed the opposition to the limit. It started early on, as Dylan Demuynck pounced on an attempted clearance around thirty seconds in, breaking free for a scoring opportunity that Syihan Hazmi would save. Shortly thereafter, another chance arose, with Patrick Reichelt receiving contact inside the area. Unfortunately, his appeal for a penalty were ignored.

Such early attacking pressure eventually worked. In the 27th minute, an attacking opportunity involving Demunyck, a debuting Bjorn Kristensen, and Justin Baas would lead to a strike from Jefferson Tabinas, with the ensuing deflection yielding an own goal.

The hosts secured the equalizer late in the first half. Four minutes from the break, Syamer Kutty Abba's strike from outside the box coming off a corner set piece reached the back of the net.

After the halftime break, the Philippines continued to look for chances to retake the lead. Jefferson would have another crack at the goal, but his effort from distance just went narrowly wide. Interim manager Norman Fegidero Jr. made some tweaks to add a bit of freshness by inserting the trio of Sandro Reyes, Jarvey Gayoso, and Christian Rontini into the picture near the hour mark.

Trying to force an equalizer, the visitors had a couple of chances late. Reyes thought he would have a penalty call in their direction after being brought down inside the area with five minutes left in regulation, but the referee thought otherwise. Fellow substitute JB Borlongan, in his seniors debut, also had a chance in added time, as his cross just missed Gayoso by centimeters.

Addressing the media afterwards, Fegidero shares, "I’m very happy with my players that we fought a very good fight until the final whistle. I’m very proud of them. We had a very good chance in the first minute of the game. And then of course, as you could see, we had another chance with what we saw was a penalty in the first half and in the second half. But that I cannot control."

The Philippines will face off against Tajikistan next on Sunday, with the central Asian side bowing to Lebanon in the first game of the doubleheader, 1-0.